One Life Changing Idea
by MissingMommy
Summary: Helga finally does something about her dreams of other sorcerers dying. It leads her to three people who believe in her. It leads her home.


I'm the Harpies Captain, season 6. I used the bit of the plot where the sorceress who knows the secret of immortality knows the emperor is going to betray her and acts on this knowledge.

* * *

 _It's nearly dawn when his mother is finally let inside the dungeon. She falls to her knees in front of his cell, her cheeks wet with tears as she reaches through the bars, trying to touch him._

 _He moves from the corner, getting as close to the bars as the metal chains around his wrists will allow him. They've taken his wand, and the chains cut him off from feeling his magic; they've made him completely powerless._

 _"I should've listened to you, Mother," he admits softly, leaning into the touch of her hand against his cheek._

 _His mother frowns, her voice low when she says, "I told you to be careful. You always had to test your luck."_

 _The corners of his lips upturn. "Where would the fun be in careful?"_

 _"It may not have been fun, Peeves, but you would have avoided this," she says, swallowing thickly as she gestures around them. She doesn't say,_ you'd still be alive _, but he hears it in her tone anyways._

 _He opens his mouth to reply when a group of guards appear. One half-pulls, half-drags his mother away from the cell. She struggles in the guard's hold, trying to get to him, screaming out for him. She doesn't look ready for her son to die._

 _He doesn't put up a fight as two guards grab ahold of his arms. "I'm sorry, Mother," he says as they lead him along. He hears her screams all the way up the stairs._

 _The guards lead him to the pyre, tying him to it with rope, tightly enough that no matter how much he struggles, he can't get free. They don't release the iron around his wrists; they'd learned much during dark days of King Uther's reign and Morgana's thirst for terror, long before the golden age of Camelot. He can't do anything but allow this to happen._

 _"You are accused of sorcery, and death is your punishment," Lord Vass says, standing on the balcony overlooking the courtyard._

 _The people under the Lord's command fills most of the empty space. He can see guards holding back his mother as she screams and cries, but he's too far away to hear it._

 _He watches as the flames spread from where the torch touched. For the first time since he was arrested, fear claws its' way up his throat as the heat washes over him. He screams and screams and screams._

Helga wakes with a start. She can taste ash in her mouth and it feels like the tangerine-colored flames were still licking at her skin. She takes a deep breath, forcing her lungs to expand and her heart rate to decrease. It does little to calm her shaking body.

Her room is bathed in darkness, but she doesn't light a candle. She doesn't think that she could handle seeing a flame after her vision. Slowly, she feels around for her dressing gown before she makes her way outside. The night is chilly, which helps remind her that it was just a dream. Once upon a time, before her mother died, all it took was her mother saying, "Calm down and tell me what happened," to bring her back to reality.

She rubs at her arms. She's had these types of dreams as long as she can remember, but very few have felt like that one. They all have one thing in common—magic. Each and every time, she has dreamt about a sorcerer.

The moon faintly glows. Her eyes search out all of the constellations easily, serving to calm her even further. When her tongue doesn't stick in her mouth any longer and her heartbeat evens out, she gives the moon one last glance.

"I will find a way to change this," she whispers. "I promise."

She wants these dreams to end. She's tired of dreaming about others like her dying. There has to be a way to protect other sorcerers. She leaves her father just before sunrise without a farewell, bringing nothing more than a sleeping roll and some rations to get her through the next few days. Her emerald green cloak keeps her warm as snow starts to fall.

* * *

It takes her two years to come up with a plan. During that time, she's used her dreams as a guide to save as many sorcerers as she can. Sometimes she wins, and sometimes she doesn't.

She saves a man named Godric Gryffindor first. He's barely younger than she is, with dark green eyes and a heart of gold that would've been his downfall; in her dream, he was caught trying to heal his best friend. There's something in his dark green eyes that makes her feel like he's part of the answer she's looking for. He readily stays by her side with an unflinching loyalty even when she leads them both into dangerous situations.

Salazar Slytherin is the next one to join her. His grey eyes flash with anger every time they fail. After each failure, she sits with him through the night. He doesn't talk about hearing about his little sister's death, and she doesn't bring it up. Instead, they share a bottle of mead and try to think beyond their failures.

It's only when the three of them save Rowena Ravenclaw from certain death that the plan forms in her mind. The three of them inspired a lot within Helga. Maybe, together, the four of them can protect other sorcerers.

* * *

She only dares to bring it up under the cover of the moonlight. The four of them sit around a campfire, their clothes clean after a long day of walking.

"What if it didn't have to be like this anymore?" she asks, her voice soft but firm. She glances up from where she's watching the fire dancing to look between her three friends.

Rowena frowns. "Like what?"

"Us always on the move, to try to save the next sorcerer," she clarifies. She hesitates for a moment. "What if we could finally have a home?"

She watches her friends give her curious looks. But before they can say anything, she shakes her head, returning her sight back towards the flames. "Nevermind, it's a silly idea."

She feels a hand on her shoulder, and looks up to meet Salazar's grey eyes. He looks at her earnestly. "Don't be afraid of your silly ideas. After all, one of them is what saved all three of us."

"You know I'm with you, no matter how it turns out," Godric says, smiling at her.

"It would be nice to have a home," Rowena chimes in. "But what about the other sorcerers?"

Helga's heart nearly bursts with happiness. She could never have imagined the way the three of them have changed her life. She feels more at home with them than she did with her father. She briefly thinks about him, and what he would've thought when he found her bed empty the morning she left. Shaking her head, she focuses back on the conversation.

"What if we didn't have to choose one or the other?" she asks, looking between each of them in turn. "What if we taught them instead?"

She's waits for Salazar to scoff and Rowena to say that it's impossible. She doesn't worry about Godric's reaction; he would follow her to the end of the world.

Instead, she sees a twinkle in Rowena's eyes. Salazar frowns, rubbing at his beard like he does when he's trying to assess the best way to rescue the next sorcerer. There's a wide grin on Godric's face.

"The biggest problem I foresee is finding a place where we can do both," Salazar finally says.

Rowena is quick to counter. All Helga can do is watch as the two of them argue back and forth. This may be the start to something amazing.

* * *

"I knew I would find you here," a voice says.

Helga turns from where she's admiring at the night sky to see Godric approaching her. "My mother used to love watching the stars. I always feel like she's with me when I look at them."

"Believe what you will, but she's always with you," he tells her softly. "Not just at night. I bet she would be proud of you."

She swallows thickly. It's still hard to talk about her mother. She changes the subject. "How long do you think this will last?"

He smiles warmly. "Have a little faith, Helga. It's going to last well beyond our lifetime. I'm sure of it."

His endless optimism never fails to make her smile. She glances around the tower. It had taken them several years to make her plan a reality. Hogwarts stands tall as a reminder of just how many the four of them have saved, thanks to the book Rowena spelled to list sorcerers.

There are a dozen students sleeping the their beds just below her feet. Proof that they can teach others that they are powerful and special, not the monsters their villages thought them to be.

She feels like this is what she was always meant to be doing; her dreams weren't an accident, but something to push her towards her destiny.

"I think you may be right, Godric," she says. She turns back to where the red sun is starting to rise. "Let us hope that Hogwarts will last forever."

* * *

Hogwarts, assignment 2: Quidditch - Task 2 - Bludgers: Write about someone or something causing harm

Insane: 700. Phrase/Saying - "Birds of a feather flock together."

365: 41. Founding of Hogwarts

Disney: T1 - Write a fic about a male/female friendship (That stays a friendship)

Book club: Aunt Lydia: (colour) dark green, (word) scoff, (word) punishment

Showtime: 11. (word) Faith

Amber's Attic: G1 - Write about someone making a commitment

Buttons: S5 - There was a time when I was alone /Nowhere to go and no place to call home /I realized I finally had a family /I promise that you'll never be lonely, O3 - Rope, W1 - Accident

Lyrics: 2. Hide away, they say

Ami's Audio: 14. Use the prompt set: (colour) red, (setting) at night, (word) glow

Angel's Arcade: 13. Quan Chi: (word) darkness, (color) emerald green, (dialogue) "Believe what you will."

Lo's Lowdown: OP1 - Theme: Found Family

Bex's Biscuits: OE5 - Write a fic in the friendship genre

Film: 46. (colour) Red

Chocolate Frogs: (Bronze) Hankerton Humble - write about Peeves during Founder's era

Gobstones: Pink Stone - Secrets; accuracy - (dialogue) "How long do you think this will last?", power - (word) Monster, technique - (dialogue) "I'm with you."

Tearoom: Pimm's Scones - (dialogue) "Calm down and tell me what happened."

Holmes: historical!au

Days: Fortune Cookie - Write about a seer

Summer: (word) Heat

Colors: Tangerine

Birthday: Sardonyx - (dialogue) "Don't be afraid of your silly ideas."

Fire Element: (word) Flame

Musicals: 36. write about a group of friends sticking together through thick and thin

Gryffindors: Godric Gryffindor, (trait) Impulsive

Writing club: 1555

Dragons: 1555


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